THE HEART IN WINTER

Kevin Barry narrates his dark story about a whirlwind romance between an opium addict and a mail-order bride in the winter of 1891 in Montana. This story--resplendent with esoteric language and a quirky style--is surely best consumed in audiobook form, and Barry's narration does it justice. Tom Rourke long ago abandoned the miserable work in the copper mines in favor of spinning ballads in an opium haze. Polly Gillespie arrives in town as a mail-order bride for another man and immediately begins a passionate affair with Rourke. Barry narrates Rourke's wildly fervent visions of life with Polly and his encounters with mystical life-forms when the pair steal a horse and head west in the dead of winter. N.M.C. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine [Published: AUGUST 2024]